Vijayawada: Andhra Pradesh High Court has reserved its verdict for Tuesday on the anticipatory bail plea of Macherla MLA Pinnelli Ramakrishna Reddy. A single judge bench headed by Justice Venkata Jyotirmai Prathap heard an ex parte petition filed by advocate Posani Venkateshwarlu on behalf of petitioners/complainants Namburi Sheshagiri Rao and Cherukuri Siromani here on Monday.
He argued that the criminal history of the MLA should be kept in mind and it would not be good to allow the accused entry into the counting center on the day of counting. On behalf of the petitioners, the court was told that if the MLA was granted anticipatory bail, he would threaten the witnesses and also tamper with the evidence. The government counsel for the police argued that there was a possibility that the MLAs would resort to violence at the time of counting of votes as they had broken the EVMs on the day of polling. The court heard that the MLA was involved in nine cases and also violated court directions and escaped police surveillance.
“The police filed a memorandum in the court at 8 pm on May 23, stating that the MLA was accused in the attack on CI Narayana Swamy,” he said.
Pinnelli Ramakrishna Reddy’s lawyer Niranjan Reddy told the court that his client had to appoint agents for counting of votes on June 4 and had sought temporary relief from his arrest. He argued that though the High Court had granted protection to the MLA from arrest in an EVM breaking case, the police later registered several cases against him “to arrest him”.
He urged the court to pass an interim order granting protection from arrest to the MLA till June 6. After hearing both the sides, the court decided to give its order on Tuesday.
